The Blue Cross plan appears similar to the "patient-centered medical home" concept. These primary care practices coordinate care for all a patient's needs, including managing chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes and delivering other services that aren't now reimbursed.

Other insurers also have created medical homes in the state. Five Kaiser Permanente of Georgia medical facilities in metro Atlanta have been designated as medical homes - in east Cobb County, Lawrenceville, Holly Springs, Sugar Hill/Buford and Cumberland, also in Cobb County.

Aetna has a medical home arrangement with Emory Healthcare for Medicare members, and one for Emory employees and their dependents who are insured by Aetna.

Such payment arrangements continue a fundamental shift in reimbursement that insurers and employers are pursuing, where medical providers are paid for the quality of care, instead of the quantity of services they deliver.

Doctors like the WellPoint program because "they practice medicine like they want to practice," Kendrick said.

Kendrick said the WellPoint plan, announced last year, has been successful in Colorado, New Hampshire and other markets.

A WellPoint official told FierceHealthPayer in May that the company had recruited 11,000 primary care doctors for the new program nationally, both large practices as well as small, independent physician offices.

Dr. Mitch Cook, an Athens family medicine doctor, is participating in the new Blue Cross program.

"Blue Cross is the first insurance company in the state to aggressively tackle payment reform, especially the medical home," said Cook, who is president of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.

Doctors will be evaluated on their care for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as on their rates of preventive screenings, Cook added.

Kendrick also said that Blue Cross is working on developing accountable care organizations in Georgia. These combinations of physicians, hospitals and insurers seek to deliver high-quality, efficient medical care, and were promoted in the 2010 health reform law.